Balford  Serious Bromance
by SpyroForLife
Summary: This is my first attempt at Buford/Baljeet. As the high school years roll around, the two must face up to some... hidden feelings. Awkwardness ensues. m/m, kinda fluffy. Please review, I seriously need it.


Serious Bromance

"And you simply twist this knob, like so, and…" The Indian boy stepped back as the machine on the desk hummed quietly, and the helmet attached to his head suddenly projected an image into the air. It was blurry, then he focused and it resolved itself into a bird flying through the air. Relatively simple, but it was the innovation behind it; anything he thought of, he could show it to others. The applications of such a device were endless.

Once he was done explaining this, he smiled as the science fair judge grabbed his arm and raised it up. "We have a winner! Baljeet Raj!"

"Oh, I cannot believe it!" Baljeet clasped his hands excitedly. "My first high school science fair blue ribbon!" He proudly turned to face the rest of the students as they applauded him, the judge placing the ribbon on his shirt and handing him a decent sum of money. But mostly, he was proud of the ribbon.

"Way to go, Baljeet!" Phineas called from nearby. Ferb gave him a thumbs-up. Then they turned to accept the second-place ribbon and prize money from the judges for their project.

When the third place was handed out, as well as the honorable mentions, the fair was officially ended and everyone began packing up their posters and contraptions.

Once he had everything put away, after signing a contract to have his design recreated and experimented with for future use, Baljeet went over to talk to his friends. "I never could have done it without you two. I was hopeless with mechanics."

"Well, we never would have been able to help you if it weren't for your extensive knowledge of mathematics," Phineas pointed out.

"Good point. Well, see you tomorrow, I have to get home and tell my parents the good news." Baljeet returned to his table, closing and picking up his box of equipment, calling goodbye as he walked out with it.

Since the high school was only a few blocks from his neighborhood, he often rode his bicycle to it. The other students in his neighborhood, who were about his age, usually walked or rode bikes as well; it was cheaper than having their parents drive them, and they preferred the quiet trip instead of the loud school bus.

As he was setting the box down in the wagon hooked up to the back of his bike, Baljeet felt a large hand on his shoulder, and then he was roughly turned around, coming face to face with the town bully. "Buford!" he exclaimed, more annoyed than scared; they've been frienemies since elementary school. He hasn't been afraid of him in forever. They might as well be friends; not that Buford would ever admit that.

"How much money did you make off that doohickey?" the larger boy asked, eying it as if it would tell him how much prize money it had earned its creator.

"Two hundred," Baljeet said proudly. He always boasted to his friend/enemy, even at the risk of being given a wedgie or a rather painful noogie in response. Buford never liked it when someone dared to imply that they were better than him at something, even if it was something he had no interest in.

"Is that right? Well, since I helped you, I think I deserve half of it."

"You did not help me! You nearly broke it! Twice!"

"Ah, the details aren't important."

Baljeet glared at him, but relented and took the money out of his pocket. It was in fifty-dollar bills, so he put one in Buford's hand and said, "I think one-fourth is enough. For… moral support."

"Eh…" Buford looked at it, fingers starting to close over it, before shaking his head and giving it back. "Nah, I think you deserve it more."

"Oh. Okay." Surprised, Baljeet put it back in his pocket. "So, did you actually attend the science fair? I do not think I saw you anywhere."

"Nah, being around a bunch of nerds makes my brain hurt. I just came at the end to see who won. I knew it'd be you."

"Honestly, I thought Phineas and Ferb were going to win, they always create the strangest, most wonderful contraptions."

"Eh." Buford walked past him to the bike rack and leaned against it, arms crossed. "Anyway, congratulations on winning, Jeet."

Baljeet rarely heard Buford call him by that nickname, and he stared at him, before unsurely saying, "Thank you."

"You heading home?"

"Yes, I want to tell my parents all about the fair."

"All right, then." Buford looked like he wanted to add something else, but he merely averted his eyes, rubbing the back of his neck and shifting his weight slightly.

Baljeet leaned down to open the combination lock on the bike chain and pull it off the wheel, tossing it into the wagon with his project and pulling the bike around to face the sidewalk. As he was climbing on, he heard the other say, "I'm proud of you, nerd."

"You are… proud?" Baljeet asked hesitantly.

"Yeah. Must be hard, having all those brains, and well…" The bully definitely wasn't looking at him now. "I mean, there were some smart students in that fair… yet you, a little freshman, beat even the seniors."

"It is no big deal, I bet next year will be even better."

"Yeah, maybe I'll actually go to that one." Buford finally looked back at him, expression carefully neutral, moving closer. When he was standing right next to him, he rested an arm around his shoulders, saying, "Honestly, I think you have a future ahead of you."

Over the years, it's become so easy for them to talk openly with each other. They should be enemies, yet they were friends. Closer than friends, almost. Something almost brotherly, yet… different. It was strange.

Feeling a little awkward now, Baljeet said, "Thank you, but I think I am going to go now."

Before he could begin pedaling, the other boy suddenly pulled him against him, nearly making him fall off the bike, and held him tightly.

"Uh, Buford?" Baljeet wondered, struggling slightly before giving up and letting his arms drape around the boy's middle. They've hugged before, but they were brief and few, and he usually got punched in the arm or shoved against a tree afterward. And it was even rarer that Buford be the one to make the first move.

Last time they had hugged, it had been after a particularly exciting adventure involving Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella, which could have gone wrong at any moment and killed or seriously injured all of them. After surviving without a scratch, however, he had let his enthusiasm get the best of him and leapt into Buford's arms without a second thought. That hadn't ended well.

But this was different. This was more determined, more… desperate? It was lasting longer than it needed to, that was for sure.

The Indian cautiously shifted, keeping his feet on the ground lest the bike tip over, but facing the other more completely. His eyes were about level with the base of Buford's neck, and without thinking, he lowered his head and rested it against the other's throat.

Buford snorted as the curly black hair tickled his chin and underside of his jaw, but didn't loosen his hold. He wasn't sure why he was doing this, but he liked being this close to him. It didn't have the same thrill he got from pushing him around, but it was still nice.

Just when Baljeet was beginning to think Buford was done with the surprises, the bully surprised him yet again. One of his hands drifted up to his cheek, palm nicely warm despite how rough it was. Baljeet had barely started to wonder what had gotten into his frienemy when the other suddenly narrowed the remaining distance between them.

Baljeet could have sworn his heart stopped and his lungs stopped taking in oxygen when Buford's mouth almost painfully slid across his, teeth catching for a moment before he slowed down, proceeding almost cautiously now.

He knew he should pull back. This was unexpected, and he didn't know what reaction would be most appropriate, but found himself leaning closer anyway, feeling a strange tingle as he shifted his head into a more comfortable position, eyes drifting shut. His arms moved of their own accord up the other's back, and he felt the other boy's muscular arms tighten ever so slightly, but not enough to hurt him.

They separated after a few moments, now staring at each other, not knowing what to make of the warm feelings that had settled in their chests. They still did not move from their embrace.

Baljeet cleared his throat and spoke first. "Uh, w-what was that?"

"I uh… don't know what you're talking about." Buford finally pulled his arms away, crossing them behind his back and looking in another direction.

Baljeet climbed down from his bike, putting the kickstand down so it wouldn't fall over, before approaching the bully. He raised his arm, starting to wipe his mouth off, then thought better of it and lowered it. He tried to adopt a casual pose like the ones Buford was so fond of using, but when that failed, he simply said, "What is going on, Buford? I have never seen you act like this before."

The other shrugged. "I don't know why I did it."

"You do not know? Or do you just not want to tell me?"

Buford crossed his arms in front of him now, stubbornly glaring at his frienemy. "There's nothing to tell. Just forget it happened."

"You do not have to be afraid to tell me. I will not judge you."

Slowly, Buford let his arms fall back down to his sides, but he still seemed reluctant to tell him how he was feeling. It was so strange. He always did feel especially close to Baljeet. It was a weird love-hate, bully-nerd kind of thing. There wasn't really a word for it, but he liked him. He worried about him sometimes, and always protected him from other bullies. But just how far did his feelings go?

"We have known each other for a very long time, now. You can tell me whatever it is you are feeling."

"I don't know, okay? I just don't know… I'm confused!" Getting frustrated, Buford turned his back on him, thinking about just walking away.

A small hand gently touched his back. "It is okay. I am a little confused too."

"You're confused? I thought nerds didn't get confused."

Baljeet laughed lightly, and Buford found himself smiling in response.

"We do sometimes," he admitted. "When we do not know what is going on. We cannot know everything. Unless someone tells us, of course." He wrapped his arms around the other from behind, resting his forehead between his shoulder blades.

With a heavy sigh, Buford finally admitted, "I kinda like you."

"I kinda like you too."

Buford turned around and smiled, and for a moment, it looked like he might hug him again… then he punched him in the shoulder, making him stumble back and trip over his bike, knocking it over and falling on top of it. The wagon nearly tipped over with it.

"And if anyone asks, this never happened." Buford finally walked away, not looking back.

Baljeet rubbed his forehead, trying to sort out what exactly the other felt for him, watching his figure as it disappeared down the sidewalk.

He was startled out of his thoughts by a familiar voice calling, "Hey, Baljeet!"

"Huh?" He saw the Flynn-Fletchers coming out of the fair; the whole family had been there. "Oh, hi Phineas." He quickly got to his feet, pulling his bicycle back up and mounting it, kicking the kickstand up as he did.

"Congratulations on first place," Linda said.

"Thank you."

"Yes, your invention was quite marvelous," Lawrence added.

"I could not have done it without your sons, they are so talented."

"They sure are." The man put his hands proudly on the boys' shoulders, while Candace rolled her eyes behind him. She was a senior and had mellowed out over the years. Her brothers still enjoyed creating strange, possibly dangerous contraptions, and sometimes she tried to tell her mom about it, but she had long ago accepted the fact that to Linda, Phineas and Ferb were just two bright, innocent kids.

She had more important things to worry about, like senior prom, her boyfriend Jeremy, graduation, scholarships, Jeremy, college… and Jeremy.

"Come on kids, let's go home, it's getting late," Linda said, leading the way to the parking lot. "See you later, Baljeet."

"Bye!" Baljeet waved at them before finally pedaling, maneuvering his bike out onto the sidewalk and toward his neighborhood. It was a quiet ride; not that many people were out driving or walking. He kept expecting to come up on Buford, but apparently the bully had ran back home and disappeared inside, because he was nowhere to be seen.

He let his thoughts wander. He had expected the science fair to be the most exciting part of his day, but no… that strange encounter was much more interesting. What had possessed Buford to hug him like that, and kiss him?

He raised a hand to touch his lips. It hadn't been that bad. He had kinda liked it. It made him feel warm and happy inside. It seemed all those clichés were true… the high school years were pretty confusing. Teenagers had to learn all kinds of things about themselves during this time, and basic science will tell you that many of their thoughts are influenced, at least in some part, by hormones. Maybe that was why the other had been so flustered, embarrassed, and in denial.

Personally, Baljeet had never had any issues with homosexuality, or bisexuality for that matter. His own sense of logic and morals found nothing wrong or immoral about it, and his religion of Hinduism did not particularly condemn it either. He just hadn't thought that it could apply to him. When he was younger, he remembered having small crushes on a number of girls, though he chose not to date now, being more focused on his schoolwork.

Yet there had always been something deeper between him and Buford, something he still did not have an appropriate name for. And if the other really liked him, possibly loved him, he was willing to give him a chance. At least he was likely to be a very attentive partner.

Now the only problem rested with figuring out how he was going to tell him tomorrow. There was a good chance he'd only be kicked in the gut or pushed into a locker for daring to suggest they be a couple. But it was worth a shot.

If he didn't, then he would never know how he and Buford really felt about each other, and he couldn't bear the thought of missing out on what could be something really special. Everyone deserved love, and if this was where he found it, then so be it.

He just wished things didn't have to be so complicated.


End file.
